Ramaphosa says he will imprison his own son if he got R500K corruptly

Vhahangwele Nemakonde

President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: AFP/File/Angela Weiss

The president says if it turns out his son lied to him about payments he will personally have him arrested.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane dropped a bombshell in parliament on Tuesday during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Q&A session on the VBS saga. One of the first questions the president had to answer was when he became aware of the corruption that was happening at VBS.

Maimane then threw in a follow-up question and told the president he had evidence of a questionable payment of R500,000 that was made to the president’s son Andile, an accusation the president denied.

WATCH: DA Leader @MmusiMaimane reveals a proof of payment and affidavit from a former Bosasa accountant that shows a half million Rand payment was made from Bosasa for the direct benefit of Andile Ramaphosa, President Ramaphosa's son. #RamaphosaQandApic.twitter.com/mmyn7ybvWu

The president said he was aware of the business relationship Maimane was talking about but said it was legally instituted through a company Andile did business with.

“It was brought to my attention a long time ago and I proceeded to ask my son what this was all about. He runs a financial consultancy business and he consults for a number of companies and one of those companies is Bosasa, where he provides services of entrepreneurship, particularly on the procurement process, and he advises both local and international companies,” he explained.

News24 has subsequently reported that Andile Ramaphosa has denied receiving the particular R500,000 payment flagged by the DA. He said he would welcome an investigation of the matter.

The president said he asked his son about the payments being obtained illegally, which he denied.

“He even showed me a contract that he signed with Bosasa and the contract also deals with issues of integrity. I have made sure that I get the information as much as I can and he is running an honest business.”

However, the president said if it turned out that his son lied about the payments being illegal he would hold him accountable.

“I will be the first to make sure he becomes accountable event if it means that I’m the one who will take him to the police station, that I will be able to do,” he said.

He said he would not stop short of seeing his son imprisoned, if necessary, which DA MPs nodded enthusiastically about.

The president said he had asked his children not to do business with state-owned enterprises.

“The filter I want you to know I apply as their father: if there is any corruption, I will be the first, if need be, to take them to jail.”

The EFF’s Julius Malema later opined that Ramaphosa should not apply one set of rules to his son while Floyd Shivambu’s brother Brian was being given negative publicity for having done work for Vele Investments, the majority shareholder of VBS.

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